Nontraditional Occupational Exposures to Crude Oil Combustion Disasters and Respiratory Disease Risk: A Narrative Review of Literature

Purpose of Review Burning of petroleum products has been consistently associated with adverse respiratory health effects. Combustion of crude oil, specifically, produces toxic byproducts, but there have been relatively few studies of health effects. Burning of crude oil is increasingly employed as a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current allergy and asthma reports 2023-06, Vol.23 (6), p.299-311
Main Authors: Chen, Dazhe, Lawrence, Kaitlyn G., Sandler, Dale P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Allergology
Crude oil
Disasters
Humans
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Occupational Exposure - adverse effects
Petroleum - adverse effects
Petroleum Pollution - adverse effects
Respiration Disorders
Respiratory Tract Diseases - epidemiology
Respiratory Tract Diseases - etiology
Topical Collection on Occupational Allergies
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Summary:Purpose of Review Burning of petroleum products has been consistently associated with adverse respiratory health effects. Combustion of crude oil, specifically, produces toxic byproducts, but there have been relatively few studies of health effects. Burning of crude oil is increasingly employed as a means of mitigating environmental disasters despite the potential health risks to workers involved in clean-up efforts. Here, we review epidemiological studies of respiratory effects following unique crude oil burning events to (1) characterize respiratory health effects from this nontraditional occupational exposure and (2) identify approaches used to characterize exposures that could be applied to future disaster-related studies. Recent Findings We searched PubMed and EMBASE for references from inception to January 30, 2023. We also manually screened references cited in eligible articles. We identified 14 eligible publications. Our review suggests that exposure to crude oil combustion has adverse respiratory effects, including reduced lung function and increased occurrence of respiratory symptoms and disease. However, the evidence is inconsistent, and quality of data varied across studies. While some studies used quantitative, modeled exposure estimates, most used self-reported proxies of exposure. Summary Although disasters involving crude oil combustion are relatively rare, limited evidence suggests that some worker populations may be at risk for respiratory effects from burning exposures in disaster settings. Future studies that use improved exposure assessment methods (e.g., personal monitors, remote sensing data) may help further quantify the respiratory risk from crude oil burning exposures.
ISSN:1529-7322
1534-6315
DOI:10.1007/s11882-023-01078-x